{Five Minute Friday} – FULL

Grandpa liked pork and beans straight from the can with a big spoon. As a little girl, I thought this one of the grossest things ever. Cold beans. Yuck. But Grandpa, a remnant of the Great Depression, thought them one of the finest treats on Earth.

When I got a little older, and Grandpa still smiled over a can of pork and beans, I asked him about his strange fancy of such icky things. He told me they satisfied him, made him full.

Grandpa went on to tell me about how he and his pop followed the new railways being laid but they didn’t always get work, didn’t always have money for food, but when they did, they bought a can of pork and beans and a loaf of bread. Together he and his pop ate those beans straight from the can with their pocket-knives, soaking up any remaining juices with a slice of bread. At the end of those days, they felt lucky, a darn sight luckier than most and they were grateful.

I asked him why he still ate them since the Depression was long gone and nowadays he had money in his pocket. He could eat anything he wanted. Steak, even. Roasted baby potatoes. A fine green salad.

“Nothing fills the belly like beans,” he said. “Beans satisfy me. They remind me how lucky I am.”

“These beans remind me to be grateful.”

I was still a bit too young to understand Grandpa’s deeper meaning then, but I somehow knew those beans were more than food to him. I sensed they filled him up in more ways than I could grasp.

Older now, more privy to those aches in the soul, I can see how Grandpa’s hunger ran deeper than a belly-full, and how all those years later those beans still filled him.

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;you give them drink from your river of delights.

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10 thoughts on “{Five Minute Friday} – FULL”

I love pork and beans too! Even cold! I grew up eating them also. What a beautiful story of your family member. I think these kind of stories are the best! My grandmother used to wash and re-use her tin foil—also a remnant of the Great Depression. We are meant to be grateful. Love, Jennifer, FMF

Hi Jennifer. Thanks so much for coming by. My grandparents had very similar frugal habits. As a child I didn’t understand them, but now, I’ve realized what gratefulness is all about, in the good and bad. You’re right, we are meant for thanks and praise.

I too love cold pork and beans too & because of that, I related to your grandpa and your verse at the end brought me to tears because I truly know the Lord does provideout of his most perfect love for us! Thank you for touching my heart today!

From his most perfect love… such truth, LuAnn. So happy to see you here and to know this spoke to your heart today. I know there’s a filling needed there, one that only our Father and his perfect love can fill. You inspire me to praise despite anything at all. Thank you!

When she saw me eating ravioli
cold, and right straight from the can,
my wife said, “Dude, you had to only
dump it out, and heat it, man!”
But she did not understand
that in the olden days of me,
fighting in a real bad land,
that this would be great luxury.
Heating food, you need a fire,
and even when there’s not a lot
of smoke and sparks rising higher,
it’s still enough to get you shot.
So a cold can, yeah, you can thrive,
and better still, can stay alive.

Dearest Brenda, your words captured my heart from the get-go. How much energy do we put into chasing the things that apparently make us full? All along we ignore the simple things that satisfy us. This will stick to my soul today!
Thanks, dear friend!!!!

That makes me happy, Heidi! I have a big smile here. I’ve realized my soul continues to groan when I fail to fill up on the Father, though, yet, I chase the wrong fulfillment often. But, I’m learning. And remembering, right all with you.